Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday announced a massive project to construct a new water passage through western Istanbul province, broadcaster CNNTürk reported.

The new passage, named "Channel Istanbul," is planned to be built on the outskirts of the European side of the city and will connect the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea and is planned to be 45-50 km long, the prime minister said, speaking at a conference in Istanbul.

The project is aimed at reducing the amount of transit vessels passing through Istanbul's Bosphorus to zero, Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan did not mention the exact location of the channel or how much it might cost, but said, "There will be no problems financing it."

Preliminary studies of the project will take two years, Erdoğan added.

In 2008 Erdoğan announced he had a "crazy project" in mind for Istanbul and that he would unveil it when it was ready.